ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Two Ono Island house fires broke out along River Road less than eight hours apart as thunderstorms rolled across south Baldwin County on Tuesday night and early Wednesday, and investigators with Orange Beach Fire & Rescue are weighing whether lightning sparked one or both of them.
Neither home was occupied when flames broke out, and no residents or firefighters were hurt in either blaze, according to the department. Crews contained both fires before they could spread to neighboring houses on the private island community.
Two Calls on the Same Road
The first alarm came in at about 6:06 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, from the 32800 block of River Road on Ono Island. Firefighters arrived to find an active fire, brought it under control quickly and kept it from reaching nearby structures, the department said.
The second call followed at about 1:19 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, a short distance down the same road in the 33000 block. Crews again found a burning structure and attacked the flames aggressively, putting the fire out while protecting the surrounding properties.
That put the two responses roughly seven hours apart, and both came while a storm system was moving through the area. The department has not released details on how much damage either house sustained, and no estimate of losses has been made public.
Lightning Among the Possible Causes
Fire officials have been careful not to reach a conclusion. The cause and origin of both fires remain under investigation, and because each started while storms were passing over, investigators are examining every potential cause, lightning included, the department said.
Officials have said they believe lightning could have been responsible, but they stressed that no official determination has been made about either fire. Orange Beach Fire & Rescue said it will release more information as it becomes available, provided doing so does not compromise the investigations.
Determining whether a fire started from a lightning strike usually involves tracing the point of origin inside a structure and looking for the path electricity may have taken, whether through a roof, an attic, wiring or plumbing. Investigators also typically rule out other common sources, such as electrical faults or appliances, before assigning a cause. With both homes empty at the time, investigators will be relying on the physical evidence at each scene rather than on accounts from occupants.
Help From Across the State Line
Orange Beach did not work the fires alone. Gulf Shores Fire Rescue, Escambia County Fire Rescue from neighboring Florida and the Orange Beach Police Department assisted during both responses, according to the department.
Mutual aid of this kind is routine along the Alabama-Florida line, where Ono Island sits at the mouth of Perdido Bay, next door to Florida. Departments on both sides of the state line regularly back one another up on large fires, water rescues and other incidents that stretch a single agency’s staffing.
A Long Night for Orange Beach Crews
The two house fires were only part of the workload. Fire Chief Jeff Smith said his firefighters handled seven other incidents over the course of the night, including sending a Tanker Task Force to help the Robertsdale Fire Department.
“Our crews did an excellent job responding to two separate structure fires in a relatively short period of time while also handling seven additional incidents throughout the night,” Smith said. “Those additional calls included a Tanker Task Force response to assist the Robertsdale Fire Department.”
Tanker task forces bring water-hauling trucks to fire scenes in areas where hydrants are scarce or where a fire demands more water than the local supply can deliver, a common need in the more rural parts of central and northern Baldwin County.
Smith said the night reflected the standard the city expects from its firefighters.
“I’m extremely proud of the professionalism and dedication our firefighters demonstrated throughout a very busy night,” he said. “They continued to respond, operate safely, and provide the level of service our community expects, while also being there to assist our neighboring departments when called upon.”
About Ono Island
Ono Island is a roughly 5.5-mile-long barrier island in southern Baldwin County, bordered by Bayou St. John to the north and Old River to the south near the mouth of Perdido Bay. It is a private, gated community reached by a single guarded bridge from Alabama 182, known locally as Perdido Beach Boulevard.
The island lies outside any city’s limits and falls under the Baldwin County Commission, but Orange Beach provides its emergency services, which is why Orange Beach Fire & Rescue answers calls there. The island has more than 1,100 homes, and its population swells in the summer with seasonal residents and second-home owners, which helps explain why houses there can be empty at any given time.
That setting can complicate firefighting: a single access bridge means every engine, tanker and support vehicle must come in the same way, and closely spaced homes raise the risk that a fire in one house can spread to the next if it is not stopped quickly. In both of this week’s fires, crews kept the flames confined to the house where they started.
Storm Safety Reminders
Late-summer thunderstorms along the Gulf Coast often produce intense cloud-to-ground lightning, and fire officials across the region routinely urge residents to take a few basic steps when storms move through:
- Head indoors when thunder is heard, and stay there until storms have passed.
- Call 911 right away if you smell smoke, see flames or suspect a strike hit your home, even if nothing appears to be burning. Fires from lightning can smolder inside attics and walls before becoming visible.
- Owners of second homes or rental properties may want to arrange for someone nearby to check on the house after a strong storm.
- Working smoke alarms, including monitored alarms in homes that sit empty for long stretches, can give firefighters an earlier start.
What Comes Next
Investigators will continue working to pin down where and how each fire began. Until that work is finished, officials have said, lightning remains a possibility rather than a finding.
Orange Beach Fire & Rescue said it will share additional details once they can be released without affecting the ongoing investigations.